Monitoring Tobacco Product Use
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California E-Cigarette Unit Sales by Flavor

Total Unit Sales in Thousands *
* Sales data do not reflect sales from vape shops or online retailers; dates represent end of 4-week periods; e-cigarette accessories and devices sold without e-liquids were excluded (9.5% of total dollar sales in 2022). Unit sales were standardized to reflect the most common package size for each product type. A standardized unit was equal to five prefilled cartridges, one disposable device, or one e-liquid bottle.
† All Other Flavors category includes fruit, clove/spice, chocolate, alcoholic drink (such as wine, cognac, or other cocktails), candy/desserts/other sweets, some other flavor; Clear/Other Cooling include products with flavor names such as clear, clear ice, or unflavored, which likely contain non-menthol synthetic cooling agents (e.g., Flum Pebble Clear, EB Design BC5000 Clear)
Trends of Unit Sales by Flavor Following California’s Flavored E-cigarette Restriction
All stats between 12/4/2022 and 9/8/2024, unless otherwise specified

Following California’s implementation of flavored tobacco restrictions, monthly e-cigarette total unit sales decreased from 831.6 thousand to 419.4 thousand (-49.6%).

Δ Unit Sales

-49.6%

California’s decline in e-cigarette sales between December 2022 and 9/8/2024 represents 15.7% (i.e., 412.2 thousand units out of 2625.5 thousand units) of the decline in national e-cigarette sales that occurred during this period.

15.7%

Tobacco-flavored e-cigarette sales increased from 206.2 thousand to 250.5 thousand (+21.5%); unit share increased from 24.8% to 59.7%.

Δ Unit Sales

+21.5%

Non-Tobacco-flavored e-cigarette sales decreased from 624.0 thousand to 167.0 thousand (-73.2%); unit share decreased from 75.0% to 39.8%.

Δ Unit Sales

-73.2%

Menthol-flavored e-cigarette sales decreased from 211.8 thousand to 29.1 thousand (-86.2%); unit share decreased from 25.5% to 6.9%.

Δ Unit Sales

-86.2%

Mint-flavored e-cigarette sales decreased from 64.7 thousand to 9.1 thousand (-85.9%); unit share decreased from 7.8% to 2.2%.

Δ Unit Sales

-85.9%

All other-flavored e-cigarette sales decreased from 340.0 thousand to 80.8 thousand (-76.2%); unit share decreased from 40.9% to 19.3%.

Δ Unit Sales

-76.2%

All clear/other cooling flavored e-cigarette sales increased from 7.5 thousand to 48.0 thousand (+537.4%); unit share increased from 0.9% to 11.4%.

Δ Unit Sales

+537.4%

As of 9/8/2024, disposable e-cigarettes represent 90.9% of sales of prohibited flavored e-cigarettes in California.

90.9%

Retail sales data are based on custom research by CDC Foundation using Circana retail POS (Multi-Outlet + Convenience). Financial support was provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies through a grant to the CDC Foundation. According to Circana, new e-cigarette product coding is managed to consistently meet or exceed releasing products that cover a minimum of 95.5% of total e-cigarette dollar sales at any given time. Coding and releasing of new products are prioritized based on significance of dollar sales in order to continually comply with capturing at least 95.5% of total e-cigarette dollar sales in each period.

  • December 21, 2022

    California Restricts Flavored E-Cigarettes

    On November 8, 2022, California voters confirmed through referendum a law introduced in 2020 that outlined restrictions on the sale of most flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes in flavors other than tobacco. The law went into effect on December 21, 2022, making California the second state to pass a comprehensive statewide tobacco flavor restriction policy.https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DCDIC/CTCB/Pages/CAFlavorTobaccoLaw.aspx 

Effects of Federal and State Policy Actions on Sales of E-Cigarette Products in California

Within months of California’s prohibition of flavored tobacco products, e-cigarette sales in flavors other than tobacco decreased to a fraction of their original values. However, sales of e-cigarettes with prohibited flavors persist, with disposable e-cigarettes maintaining the largest share of these prohibited sales.


Additionally, products marketed as clear or unflavored but containing menthol and/or non-menthol synthetic cooling agentsMinetti ET, Erythropel HC, Keith R, Davis DR, Zimmerman JB, Krishnan-Sarin S, Hamburg NM. Cardiovascular Health Effects and Synthetic Cooling Agents in E-cigarettes Labeled as ‘clear’ Marketed in Massachusetts After the Tobacco Product Flavoring Ban. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Apr 19:2024.04.18.24305863. doi: 10.1101/2024.04.18.24305863. PMID: 38699355; PMCID: PMC11065038. (categorized within the above sales graphs as “clear/other cooling”) increased in sales following the policy implementation.

Past Data Briefs

The data in this brief have been updated to capture new e-cigarette products coded by IRI. Historical sales estimates may differ from previous briefs.

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E-Cigarette Sales by State

For individual state e-cigarette sales information, click on each state’s shape on the map. You can also click on each state text below the map for e-cigarette sales data.